(Washington, DC) – Detectives with the Metropolitan Police Department's Major Crash Investigations Unit are investigating a traffic fatality that occurred on Monday, December 5, 2022, on Queens Chapel and Bladensburg Road, Northeast.
The preliminary investigation revealed that at approximately 9:11 a.m., a 1998 International semi-truck with a 53’ trailer was traveling northbound in the 2000 block of Bladensburg Road, Northeast. At the intersection of Bladensburg and Queens Chapel Road, the semi-truck and trailer made an abrupt stop at a red light. When the vehicle stopped, its load of steel beams shifted, the nylon straps broke, and the steel beams entered the back of the cab of the truck, striking the driver of the semi-truck.
DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene and after finding no signs consistent with life, the victim remained on the scene until transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The decedent has been identified as 49-year-old Richard William Farmer, of Greensboro, North Carolina.
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